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The Crown Prince just had several of his relatives tortured in order to force them to sign over a great deal of their wealth. That is a bit of disgusting despotism that would be hard to beat by anyone. The Saudi royals need to go.

Hopefully, his motive will be fully revealed in the examination of his computer and any journals or other written materials. Most these right wing terrorists leave an obvious paper trail to their particular flavor of hate.

Excellent article! I learn more about the politics of the Middle East from the writers in this site than from any other venue. This piece really gives the back story on the Evangelical support for Israel. How strange that Jewish Zionists have allied themselves with a group that looks forward to the end of Judaism.

If there is any upside to our having elected an ignorant, self-obsessed racist clown to the presidency, it is that the rest of the world is being forced to develop a spine in the face of US bullying. I am no fan of Iran's totalitarian theocracy, but it appears that they are abiding by the nuclear accord; the Europeans are right to open up trade, and ignore Washington's fulminations.

I am not a fan of the involvements by the US in other countries' affairs, but the writer appears to be forgetting that Assad was in the process of murdering thousands of his own citizens. Did we wind up making the situation worse? Perhaps, but that might have been due more to our dithering and incoherent interventions. Should other nations simply stand by while a government slaughters it own people?

The US needs to offer all Israelis dual citizenship. The real "promised land" for Jews, or for anyone, is America. Anyone seeking peace in the Middle East should also be working toward eliminating anti-Semitism in Europe. Jews should feel assured their rights and their persons and property will be respected everywhere. A Jewish homeland should not be necessary in this world.

So often the left forms a circular firing squad, and spends its energy taking out its own. Greenwald has decided that he hates certain factions of the Democratic Party more than he hates any element of the right, even the neo-nazi right. Many "Bernie Bros" sat out the general, or even voted for Trump, in order to punish the Dems for rejecting their candidate. The right, on the other hand, came together after the primary election and gave its full throated support to the winner, even though many of them had earlier made clear their complete disdain and contempt for the man. So now we are where we are, with Greenwald standing shoulder to shoulder with the very people who would deny him and his husband the most fundamental rights, if they could.

I doubt that it would have made much difference as to who was leading Israel. The shift in public opinion began long before Bibi's tenure. I am old enough to remember the impact Vanessa Redgrave's advocacy had in making many Americans re-think their knee-jerk support of Israel.

It is wonderful to hear that the story of the occupation is being more widely told. We need more courageous film makers and writers to bring the suffering of the Palestinian people to the attention of the world.

Too many Americans seem to be in the grip of delusion about our place in the world, and have elected a delusional President who will tell them the lies they want to hear. But we will have to deal with reality sooner or later, and the longer we take to face it, the harder it will be. It's like a man that has gone on a long bender - he'll have to sober up sometime, and then face the mess he's made.

The totalitarian nature of the Iranian regime is most clearly shown in its oppressive laws regulating the behavior of women. As the world (hopefully) moves in the direction of more freedom, for all people, Iran will be forced into either relaxing its oppression of its own people, or into a war with the young and educated.

Abusers depend on the silence of their victims in order to operate. The men, and women, who attack the victims for speaking out are not just enablers of abuse, they are contributing to the victimization.

This is such good news! It is great to hear my monthly donation to the ACLU is going toward such great work. The right to voice a political opinion is the most important right we have in a democracy. But right wing judges and justices will undoubtedly be chipping away at this most fundamental right in the near future. This is how a democracy is lost.

These are the pitiful last spasms of the white supremacists. These dregs of the American right wing are in such a panic at the sea changes occurring in this country that they are now blindly lashing out at any positive depiction of people of color, especially black people, feminists, or sexual/gender minorities. We have to continue to call them out and to push back in every available way. They will not go into the night quietly, and a resurrection of their despicable ideology is always possible, so they cannot be ignored. Kudos to Rotten Tomatoes for taking a stand.

The blind hubris displayed by these "diplomats" veers well into sociopathy. For the sake of the people of the Middle East, renewables must continue to come down in cost until there remains no rational argument for the continued reliance on fossil fuels, specifically oil.

Finally, sanity might be returning to America regarding marijuana. The scales have fallen from the eyes of so many and we now understand how the so-called "War on Drugs" was all along a war on minorities. The next step is the elimination of all criminal penalties for the possession and use of any drug, period. Drug abuse, whether opioids or aspirin, is a public health problem calling for education and treatment, not incarceration.

King was a selfless man of profound intelligence and capability who devoted himself to freeing Black Americans from oppression, and freeing America from the disease of racism. He was the polar opposite of Trump - a greed driven thief and con man filled with the corrosive bile of hate, a foolish, ignorant man.

CNN and the other MSM outlets know exactly what Miller and his ilk are, and what message they are pushing. Why do they choose to have them on as guests? The answer is simple - ratings. Neo-nazis and white supremacists should not be given a platform. Tapper would not have to spend time trying to refute hate speech and lies if these nazi propagandists were not invited to appear on his show.

Unfortunately, leftists hate liberals more than they hate the oligarchs. They were willing to bring Trump to power in order to punish liberals for not ditching Clinton in favor of Sanders. This kind of fratricidal anger against the folks that should be the left's natural allies will always work in the interest of the capitalist one-percenters, but the left would rather be pure than win.

The military in every country is always the most ant-progressive part of society. It does not surprise me in the least that Gen Kelly is essentially a confederate sympathizer, or that he thinks there is two sides to the issue of slavery. Or that he makes a sly swipe against feminism. There is no more reactionary a segment of a society than its generals.

White European racism is an ideology quite cynically developed to justify making slaves of Africans, and waging genocidal war against the native Americans, let's be honest. Sadly, xenophobia is a world-wide phenomenon. Look at the attitude the Japanese had toward the Chinese, for God's sake.

We have elected incompetent thievish idiots to the office before, and we will again. Let's not believe our historical hype about our imperfect democracy. There are enough centers of power that even if the ship of state lists, we find a way to right it.

It can truly be said about the Middle East that you can't tell the players with out a scorecard. We have no idea whether the folks whom we are supporting with blood and treasure are really on our side, and what it is that they are actually fighting for, as we seem to know as little about them as we do the creatures of Alpha Centauri.

Strange how you Trump dead enders grasp at the flimsiest of (fake) straws to defend your tangerine tinted leader; the link you referred us to was a breathless and worthless conspiracy site full of delusional allegations of Clinton-Ukraine collusion, fueled, apparently by too many shots of bourbon coupled with too many consecutive hours of Alex Jones, a very bad combination. Speaking of something beneath the general tone of Informed Comment...

Ignorant and brutal religious fanaticism has been responsible for so much of the suffering in this world. I don't know that a purely secular world would be free of this kind of horror, but I, for one, am willing to give it a try.

Was this White House announcement possibly based on some fake news taken from some alt-right website/blog/radio "news" outlet? Donnie Demento does regularly pass along bits of idiocy from these sites. More probable is that Donnie's dementia has reached the stage where he is experiencing delusions, suspicions and paranoia, common symptoms of this malady. How dangerously irrational will he have to become before Pence and Congress pull the plug on this ridiculous situation? Everyone who is enabling this travesty should be ashamed.

The article was quite informative; the comments that followed equally so. As an agnostic and secular Buddhist, this reinforces my belief that the American "Founding Fathers" had the right idea in separating government and religion. What is ironic about many conservatives in America today is that they rail against "Sharia Law", while insisting that the principles and teachings found in the Old and New Testaments be incorporated into American law and legislation.

If the American people really want to get to the bottom of the entire Trump/Russia affair, they will have to vote out the Republican legislators that are stonewalling the investigation and covering for Trump. Trump is, at present, serving the Republicans well as a useful idiot whose crazy antics provide a great distraction for all the draconian legislation they are passing to give the 1% and corporations massive tax cuts, to turn back the clock on LGBTQ rights, to escalate the war on women, and to destroy the environment.

The rise and fall of every military empire is pretty much the same - wars of conquest that bring in resources to enrich the oligarchy and reduce other nations to tribute paying satellites, then the massive social inequality and slow rot that insatiable greed brings, then a collapse and defeat at the hands of the next rising power. All of that is in the DNA of the human social order. It is as predictable as the rising and setting of the sun.

Iran is not really an Islamic theocracy, it is an Islamic variant of fascism, which is always patriarchal and misogynistic. Complete totalitarian control over every aspect of women's lives, and their reduction to second class citizens whose functions are service to males and reproduction, is always a feature of fascist/nationalist ideology. It would easily be possible for a primarily Islamic country to be religiously tolerant, democratic and even feminist, but Iran, for whatever reason, rejected that path in favor of Islamic fascism.

If the public's disapproval of Trump and Trump's policies does not translate into votes against the Republicans in the House and Senate, it will make little difference. It takes something akin to outrage to motivate voters, but these polls do not reveal the depth of feeling of the public. It will be a mistake to complacently assume that these poll results will be reflected in real results at the real polls.

It is beyond the capabilities of our officials and elected representatives here in the US to tease out our real interests in the Middle East. We have bound ourselves to Israel, and most decisions seem to flow from that, but even that alliance does not give us a clear path forward among the multitude of factions and their conflicting interests. We are about to be drawn into a conflict we cannot explain.

One important factor in the destruction of American democracy overlooked in this essay is the clever takeover of the news media by the corporatists, including print, television and radio. The extensive use of disinformation has a long history with totalitarian regimes such as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union (and present day Russia). Here in the US a truly free press is being gutted not by government, but by the corporations that have eaten it up.

For the average American, the Middle East is a complete puzzle. What are our interests and aims there? If we are an oil exporter, why would we be dependent on ME oil? Why do we spend so much time and treasure supporting Muslim theocracies that suppress all the rights that we value? I wonder if members of congress, or even our military leaders, have any better grasp of the answers to these questions. There is only one thing we know for sure - our president is, without a doubt, completely clueless.

This is the truth about all the climate deniers: they're not stupid or uneducated. They know that climate change is real. They also know that they will be dead by the time the real impact of climate change hits. They want their money now, and what happens to the planet later is not their concern. Trump is 70. He'll be dead in 20 years, maybe less. We won't start to see the truly catastrophic effects until 2050. The most we will be able to do then is dig him up and drag his bloato body thru the streets. What the young need to be told over and over is that the Republican Party destroyed the planet the young had planned on inhabiting.

The evolving economics of renewables in power generation is the key to success or failure in combating climate change. Will the steady drop in price for solar, wind and other renewables happen fast enough for us to lower emissions in time? Or has the window of opportunity already closed?

This on-going war against science is the greatest threat to America that we face under Trump and his allies. They are destroying data, starving research, and even allowing political hacks to rewrite scientific reports. I never thought I would live to see the day that partisanship would become such a cancer in this country, destroying our most valuable institutions and dragging us into a dark age. Reason has been vanquished by greed and irrational prejudice. God help us all.

Iran illustrates that education alone will not eradicate sexism. With a population that is one of the most highly educated in the Middle East, the culture is still stuck in a medieval view of the place of women. I have not seen any attempts to analyze why this is so.

What Trump and his minions do not know about the Middle East would fill the Library of Alexandria. What they do know barely fits on a match book cover. But ignorance about the rest of the world has always been a source of pride for most Americans, who take it for evidence of patriotism.

A Trump weakened and hamstrung by accusations of treason and criminality, under investigation by the Congress and the FBI, is probably the best gift to the Dems that the Republicans can make. A despised and dishonored Trump may be the secret for a 2018 Democratic takeover of both houses, and a Dem President in 2020.

In what way is Mr. Cole "shilling" for Israeli intelligence? He is only pointing to them as an example of a close ally that might be reconsidering the extent to which they share intelligence given what a egotistical blabbermouth our President is.

What a bizarre world view you have. We aren't living in a Captain America comic. The power of this country is highly dependent on it alliances. Without them we are blind, deaf and lame. As for our imagined invulnerability, we just had Russian cyber-meddling decide our Presidential election, remember?

Rubbish. This Crazy Clown President is just as likely to tweet out confidential info as not. Then who will you blame? Twitter, for not reviewing and censoring the tweets of our nutzo Prez? Stop trying to place the blame for all Trump's failings everywhere else but where it belongs, squarely on the demented man himself.

We should not be "idolizing" anyone. Men (and women) are only human, and subject to making mistakes of hypocrisy and mendacity because they are human. We need to focus on logic and facts, regardless of the messenger. What we are seeking is truth, not heroes.

Cruelty, hatefulness, selfishness, none of these are characteristics of any one group or any particular ideology. They are, unfortunately, found throughout the species. In fact, they are more common in man than their opposites, empathy, compassion, and generosity. These last qualities must be cultivated by society. The former seem embedded in our natures.

The key to getting rid of this would be dictator is to convince the Republicans in Congress that not only their jobs are on the line, but the future of their party. This means getting folks out to town halls, and getting them to write call email and personally visit their Republican congresspeople. This also means SENDING MONEY to the Dems who will be running against these Republicans.

The internet is a public utility that was developed by the US government, not by private enterprise, and is now necessary for citizens to function in the world. Net neutrality insures that no content is favored over other content, and thus protects free speech.

The pace of technological advancement is accelerating constantly. The first coal fired power plant was built 135 years ago; and my bet is that solar powered plants will overtake coal in the next 10 years. As governments begin to confront the costs of ignoring climate change, and scientists scramble to make renewables more and more cost effective, the world will collectively rush to embrace clean energy, leaving fossil fuel to histor.

This will be how democracy in the west will fall - the racial majorities, feeling their power threatened, will resort to totalitarian rule brought about incrementally in order to entrench their rule. We see it happening before our eyes.

Assange lost all claims to whistle blower status when he allowed his organization to become a tool of Russia's disinformation campaign, and coordinated the release of DNC emails with the Putin/Trump operation in order to help swing the US election to Trump. He is nothing more than an agent of Russian intelligence.

Does this really come as a surprise to anyone? Trump's domestic policy is to use his office to enrich himself and his friends. This is the most corrupt administration in US history, and the corruption will not end with one or two insider deals, it will be a pervasive re-orientation of our government to serve the interests of the rich.

Clinton was the most qualified candidate ever to run for President. She did run a weak campaign, but what doomed her chances was the Republicans' a 20 year smear campaign - which the author obviously fell victim to - and the unprecedented attack on an American election by the Russian government, aided by a cabal of pro-Russian political operatives in this country. The final straw was the nefarious intervention by a Republican FBI Chief with an obvious partisan purpose. The bulk of this article was composed of hoary quotes and threadbare platitudes which was less a call to action than a civics sermon.

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